Friday, July 16, 2010

Slow Daze

In truth, the banal moments of the day are the most seductive to me. It is in the lighting of a fire on a cold morning, or in the pouring of wine and the pulling up of chairs to read together at the end of an afternoon of errands, that love really exerts its magic.

~ Dominique Browning, "Slow Love"

It's hot here. I've been slightly blog-neglectful and I apologize. After a very un-Hollywood-like May and June (fog, gloom, drizzle), the big fiery Klieg light in the sky is now on overdrive. Scorching days are supplanted by a mohair haze of heat in the evenings. The only thing I feel like doing is retreating into the shadows...and curling up with a book.

Thank God for "Slow Love."

You are all familiar with Dominique Browning as the glamorous editor-in-chief of the late lamented House & Garden magazine. In 2007, the magazine abruptly folded and she found herself suddenly out of a job and with no way to define herself -- after all, who was she without her high-powered career? Her memoir beautifully articulates the bumpy process of discovering a new purpose-driven life for herself. It's poignant, it's funny, it's honest, but most of all, it's inspiring:

Slow living, I have come to understand, opens up the prospect of slow love, the most sustaining sort of love I have ever known -- a love that comes of an unhurried and focused attention to the simplest things, available to all of us, at any time, should we choose to engage: family, friendship, food, music, art, books, our bodies, our minds our souls, and the life that blooms and buzzes all around us.

~ Dominique Browning, "Slow Love"

Last night Luca and I grabbed our books and sat in the cool of the dining room until the sun finally sank behind the trees. I would say that we read in silence, but as he kept bursting out with breathless blow-by-blow accounts of the last 10 pages of his Percy Jackson book, that description would not be quite accurate. I realized with a pang that one day I would miss those interruptions.

Slow love is about knowing what you've got before it's gone.

~ "Slow Love"

I've had huge hero worship for Dominique Browning for years and so when I was invited to her book signing recently in Santa Monica, I was beside myself at the prospect of meeting her. She spoke eloquently and passionately about her transformational journey and her struggles and fears along the way, and she inspired us all with her lessons of rediscovering grace and self-empowerment.

The biggest thrill, though, was that she knew of this blog. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Lucky for us, she has started her own blog called "Slow Love Life." It's beautiful, elegant and impassioned, just like her. Go ahead, click over there now.

25 comments:

On the last few chapters and hating for the book to end... so I go back and re-read my favorite passages - I will be in mourning when I finish the last page. Thank you for posting about Dominique's book! PS: If Luca goes into mourning after finishing the last Percy Jackson, he might enjoy Rick Riordan's new series - The Red Pyramid is the first of the Kane Chronicles.

It is the seasons and the changes they bring that make us look a love life a little slower. I can feel the sultry summer day in your life, and I love that you slowed down to recognize it and read this book. DB is a gem.pve

You just made my day! I have also loved and admired Dominique and was devastated when HG folded and I could no longer look forward to her editorials. I will be heading to Borders tomorrow to pick up Slow Love, she is playing the tune I want to hear right now.

What a lovely post, and I recognised the being interrupted to hear about Percy Jackson, and you give a welcome reminder that this will not last forever, which makes me want to hold on to these times even more! Very interested in Dominique's book and blog, thank you! Bx p.S. Has your son tried the Warrior Cats series? Boy 1 aged 9 loves them but they do drive me slightly mad,,

fabulous post, love that she knew your blog. sounds like a great read. but i think the thing i like the best id the reading together. i love doing that with guys - that alone time spent together is v.cool.

Dear Lisa,What a wonderful surprise, to see this post! I wish I were curled up there listening to a young man read out loud from his book....! And your site has been in my "favorite blogs" section since the day I launched! So the fan-dom is mutual....Thank you; I can't tell you how much the support means to me--priceless! d---p.s. and you are so right. how I miss the sound of those excited boy voices reading out loud. I'm looking forward to buying a copy of Love You Forever...and the Red Pyramid!